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Cbeffiriftng anb Ipelltng JttfontL 

A LECTURE. 
Br William T*Coggeshall. 

Delivered before the Ohio Phonetic Association) at 

Antioch College, Yellow Springs, 0,, 

September 11th, 1&57. 

Our popular educational systems deny to our 
language a sound basis of representation, and 
consequently support perplexities and confu- 
sions wluch •retard the progress of learning in 
our sfhoojsfcand colleges — obstruct the general 
diffusion of knowledge, and, in our places of 
business detract from the service and pleasure 
of needful occupations. 

The Phonetic movement has a single object: 
It aims to furnish a reliable guide to orthog- 
raphy and pronunciation : yet, perhaps, no Re- 
form ever met graver frowns or more learned 
sneers. No practical movement was ever more 
significantly prejudiced by the cant of erudi- 
tion or the pretension of reverence — a couple 
of royal cousins in the realms of "Humbug" 
which have sustained many delusions and re- 
tarded the progress of many truths. 

Phonotypy and Phonography propose to ac- 
complish for the learner, the reader, and the 
writer precisely what the Railway accomplishes 
for the traveler. Considering that the great 




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2 What is Phonotypy ? 

effort of ingenuity now-a-days, and the great 
purpose of capital, and the great design of en- 
ergy are to accomplish the utmost in the brief- 
est space of time, there is expressive and expan- 
sive force in the adage — "Time is Money." 

Appealing to the Spirit of the Age, the plans 
and purposes of those who form Phonetic Soci- 
eties, and publish Phonotypic books and Phono- 
graphic Magazines, are a practical application 
of that adage to a preeminently important 
branch of labor, which, directly associated with 
all other advancement — relied upon, indeed, for 
the record of all other progress — is just as com- 
plicated, just as difficult of acquisition, just as 
slow and tiresome a process as it was a hundred 
years ago : — aye, in most respects, as it has been 
since its first discovery. 

What is Phonotypy? 

"'~ It has been well defined, a rational system of 
spelling words as they are pronounced, by em- 
ploying an enlarged Alphabet, containing a sep- 
arate letter for each sound, by which means the 
drudgery of learning to spell is entirely dis- 
pensed with, and learning to read is accom- 
plished in one-fourth of the time required in 
the common way. 

That the precise mode of representing sounds 
has been devised — -that the characters now em- 
ployed in Phonotypic books and newspapers are 
the best that could be collected, I am not pre- 
pared to discuss. My topic is the Need and 
Availability of a Spelling Reform. I advocate 
the propriety of Phonetic representation, and 
this, when clearly explained, is so apparent, that 
it seems to me every man ought to recognize it. 

It is a common principle of policy that if we 



What is Phonotypy? 3 

impose too much work on our servants, we may 
expect a portion, if not all of it, poorly done. 
Division of labor is one of the secrets of that 
management by which, in immense manufacto- 
ries, small profits, on separate articles, ensure 
rich reward to the capitalist. Letters are our 
servants for the representation of ideas, for the 
record of thoughts. It need not be argued that 
confusion must arise if they have complicated 
duties. They do have complicated duties, and 
6 'confusion worse confounded" does arise. That, 
every man, woman, and child knows, who ever 
learned a-b-c's — who ever danced under the 
exhilaration of tough twigs well applied, for bad 
spelling : — that, right well, does every teacher 
know, who has had his patience tried in vain 
efforts to instruct some inattentive youth, that 
exceptions to rules, not rules, are what he 
must observe if he would master orthography. 
In the English language there are, according to 
approved analysis, forty- three elementary sounds. 
To represent these sounds we have an Alphabet 
composed of twenty-six letters. It is plain, 
therefore, that some letters must do double, 
some triple duty, and some even have more la- 
borious service. For instance, the character 
known as "a," in different combinations, repre- 
sents five sounds, "e" six, "i" five, "o" seven, 
" u "seven. Now, the learner must not only ac- 
quaint himself with what "a," "e," "i," "o," and 
"u," are, but what they may be. What is the 
result? A few men and women whose occupa- 
tions require daily exercise of the pen, spell 
most words according to the dictionary, while 
the "rest of mankind" spell words as they are 
pronounced ; and business letters, and love let- 
ters (quietly be it spoken) have as varied or- 



4 What is Phonotypy? 

thography as the nature of the business, or the 
intensity of the love. The drilling and pound- 
ing such persons have groaned under in spell- 
ing classes — the time that dragged heavily for 
teachers, the wear and tear of patience they en- 
dured, were fruitless. 

Let me recapitulate a few of the nice calcula- 
tions that have been made on the perplexities 
and inconsistencies of our Alphabet, and its 
employment. There are 20 different letters and 
combinations of letters for representing the 
sound a; 12 for c; 23 for e; 7 for o; and 24 for 
u. So that when a child wishes to spell a word 
having the sound of a in it, there are 19 chances 
against its spelling that word according to Web- 
ster; or in spelling one with the sound of u in 
it, the child must guess one of the twenty-four 
different ways of representing that sound! The 
sum of the ways in which each of the twenty-six 
letters is used in different senses, together with 
the sum of the ways in which two or more taken 
together are used in different senses, is six hun- 
dred and fifty -eight. Now the learning 658 dif- 
ferent ways, which are only so many complex 
and arbitrary substitutes for as great a number 
of single characters, that might more easily be 
learned, is comparatively nothing ; it is the 
learning and memorizing required to know which 
of these substitutes should be used to represent 
each particular sound in every syllable in every 
one of the words of our language. 

Suppose the pupil to have learned and remem- 
bered all the different ways of spelling each of 
the 43 sounds of the language, 658 in number — 
is he any better off than before? Not in the 
least, as to his ability to spell, with any certainty 
of correctness, any word that he has not memo- 



What is Pmonotypy ? 5 

rized. There being at least 401 different ways 
to represent our vowel sounds, and perhaps more 
than 100,000 words in our language, counting 
all their declinations, comparisons, conjugations 
and all other inflections, a person, to spell every 
word correctly, must know every individual way 
of representing these vowel sounds, and which 
individual way is proper for every individual syl- 
lable of every individual word. 

If we take into mind that the 43 ways of using 
the letters of the Phonetic Alphabet, divided by 
43 — the number of the letters — gives one, and 
that the 658 ways of using the old letters, divi- 
ded by 26, the number of letters, gives 25 and 
8 over, we make it obvious, at once, that it is 
over 25 times more difficult to learn to spell and 
read correctly in the common than in the new 
method. 

Again, an economy of about twelve and a half 
percent is saved by dispensing with all silent 
and double letters. 

If it be good policy in these progressive times, 
for boys and girls to cudgel their brains, and 
have their backs cudgelled in turn, out of rev- 
erence to what has been, and what is, (wrong,} 
for the sake of learning arbitrary distinctions, 
which perplex, and confuse, and retard ; then, 
Phonotypy is chief among " the bugs that do 
hum," but, to adopt a concrete form of argu- 
ment, otherwise, — otherwise; entirely otherwise. 

"Figures don't lie," it is said ; but figures 
would lie outrageously, if they were employed 
as letters are. Suppose that for the system of 
enumeration, now in vogue, we had only five 
characters to represent all the quantities between 
1 and 100: and that, sometimes, 6 were twice 3; 
sometines, 4 times 3; and, sometimes, half of 3; 



6 What is Phonotypy? 

and these differences of value did not depend on 
clearly denned relations, but were arrived at by- 
experienced guessing. What jolly cheating 
there would be! what a reliable science math- 
ematics! what fine fun schoolmasters would have 
teaching arithmetic! how bank clerks would be 
tried! how shop men and shop maids would cov- 
et all the christian graces in order to keep their 
tempers even! and, how often the hard-working 
man would be grossly defrauded! Such a state 
of things could not continue. Reform would 
be universally demanded. Letters lie now, just 
as figures would if they had the same complica- 
ted relations to each other. The need of a Spel- 
ling Reform is just as clear as would be the 
Enumeration Reform. Figures have closer ac- 
quaintance with our pockets than letters, it is 
true, but if we count the time worse than wasted 
in our schools, while pupils strive to fix in their 
memories the varied offices of Alphabetic signs, 
and then estimate the value of the time con- 
sumed in tedious exercise of the knowledge 
gained, we shall discover that letters have a 
nearer relation to "profit and loss" than we sup- 
posed. This relation is rendered still nearer 
when we understand that the construction of 
our language upon a Phonetic basis would save 
one-fourth of the time required to comprehend 
its written and printed use, and at least four- 
fifths of the time consumed in that use. 

If it is needful, at the expense of heavy cap- 
ital, perseverent energy, and imminent hazard, 
to condense the journey of a week into one day, 
why is it not needful to preserve for useful in- 
formation or instruction not less than one school 
hour in every six, now squandered in learning 
what, according to common acknowledgement, 



What is Phonotypy ? 7 

^wont stay learnt.''' I offer no disrespect to'any 
individual, when I declare that not one person 
in ten out of the educated circles of city or coun- 
try communities, can analyze the orthography of 
one-half the words in common use. The pro- 
nunciation of a word is no guide to its spelling 
— the spelling of a word is no index to its pro- 
nunciation. 

I may compliment my auditors upon their 
inteligence, but I'll venture io affirm that the 
shrewdest, sharpest one among them cannot pro- 
nounce thesound of four letters which I shall 
speak. They occur in the following line, deriving 
importance from association : — 

"Though the tough cough, and hiccough plough me through." 

Now, who can tell how "o-u-g-h" is pro- 
nounced. Six times did I repeat the sound, yet 
who can inform mo. whether, independently, it is 
o — uf- — auf — up — ow, or, oo. 

Perhaps all of my auditors have attended 
Spelling Schools, — some of them may have pre- 
sided on those interesting occasions, when youth- 
ful ingenuity and juvenile memory are required 
to be as keen and active, as in any other intel- 
lectual arena — but not one can answer what a-t 
spells. Is it (at) ate, or at? If, as they say in 
Spelling Schools, the whole class is put down, 
we will try another test. It shall be a simple 
one: — What does i-t spell? Is it (it) ite, or it? 
The best schoolmaster does not know. 

He must understand the association of the 
letters, or the meaning of the word. He can 
spell it, or at, or though — that is, he can tell 
what letters are understood to represent these 
sounds, because by diligent practice and extended 
observation he has learned so much from pic- 
tures which meet his eye; yet, tho' he be an A. 



8 What is Phonotypy ? 

B., or a D. D., or an L. L. D., he cannot declare 
how o-u-g-h, or a-t, or i-t, isolated, is pronoun- 
ced. Verily, this is strange, but "'tis true 'tis 
pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true." 

A striking specimen of the absence of practical 
philosophy in our orthography is afforded in two 
small words, in pronouncing which, not one of the 
letters with which they are written is sounded. 
How do you spell the word expressing the af- 
firmative in viva voce voting? — thus — -a-y-e, (I). 
Again, take the word by which the female sheep 
is known — e-w-e r (yo). 

If any persons should trace such illustrations 
of the need of Spelling Reform through the va- 
ried offices which the twenty-six letters of our al- 
phabet are required to perform, he would not be 
surprised that many men and women carry 
through life, school-room recollections very 
suggestive of rods and ferules — of dunce blocks 
and fool's caps— of cramped fingers and aching 
heads; — recollections, which whenever orthog- 
raphy is talked about, 'induce nervous shrug- 
ging — which sometimes elicit sighs, but often 
curses. No one who has not reflected upon this 
subject, is aware of the number of rules required 
to guide the student of English in learning the 
language. Dr. Flugel, in his English Grammar 
for Germans, gives sixty-five pages of rules for 
the pronunciation of the different letters of the 
alphabet; fifteen pages of accent rules, and sev- 
enteen pages of orthographic rules. Dr. Heussi 
in a similar work, devotes one hundred and 
twenty-one octavo pages to the same subject; 
and Mr. Hirst in his Grammar devotes fifty-six 
quarto pages to rules for reconciling the incon- 
gruities of the English language. 

Among the 80,000 words which our Diction- 



What is Phgnotypy? 9 

aries authorize us to employ, there are 201 poly- 
nims — words differently pronounced without 
change of orthography, embracing 406 different 
pronunciations; 364 homonyms, or words spelled 
in 728 different ways — 36 words in 108 differ- 
ent ways, 3 each — 4 w^ords spelled in 16 differ- 
ent ways, 4 each, and one word spelled five 
different ways — in all, 405 words } spelled in 
857 ways— besides there are 146 words spelled 
by different lexicographers in more than two 
different ways. 

As an editor, I have been accustomed for 
twelve years to examine MSS. I have pub- 
lished many contributions from literary men, 
Preachers, Doctors , Lawyers, Schoolmasters, 
Merchants, and Mechanics, and I speak advi- 
sedly when I say, that none of them write inva- 
riably as the printer should spell, heterotypi- 
cally. Printers often consult the Dictionary 
for the orthography of words. Editors MSS. 
must often be corrected by compositors. For 
twelve years I earned my bread with my pen, 
publishing daily, on an average, at least one 
column of matter in a newspaper of medium 
size; and yet I would not dare to wager largely 
that every word in this Lecture is written ac- 
cording to the accepted orthography. I do not 
pretend to extraordinary dullness — nor unex- 
ampled forgetfulness; — and if a man who writes 
constantly cannot have confidence in his spell- 
ing, what presumption, what injustice, to de- 
mand that the man who writes but once a month, 
or once a year, shall always write "fulfillment " 
and similar words with the ZZ in the right sylla- 
ble — or perseverant, and words of corresponding 
orthography, with an a instead of an e in the 
last syllable. Whenever I hear a managing 



10 What is Phonotypy? 

"fogie" sneer at "learning made easy," and de- 
claim for the "pursuit of knowledge under diffi- 
culties," I desire to inspect his MSS., and if 
I have an opportunity I probably discover that 
the difficulty lying in the way of his pursuit of 
a knowledge of orthography, was so enormous 
he has not entirely overcome it. 

The natural exponent of thought is vocal 
utterance. Written language is a device em- 
ployed to record that to which the voice has given 
form and substance, or to symbol what the mind 
wishes to be uttered. It must be, therefore, of 
the first importance that words should infallibly 
indicate sounds, just as important as that mu- 
sical notation should infallibly indicate tones 
and semi-tones. 

How frequently — how provokingly — how rid- 
iculously our mongrel orthography violates this 
common-sense principle. Phonetic Reform is 
but the instrument of its protection — the medi- 
um of the universal application of that principle. 

If ever there was a language for which an 
infallible guide to pronunciation was peculiarly 
required, it is the English language. Phonoty- 
py furnishes that guide just as surely as the 
magnetic needle furnishes a guide to the north. 
The language Americans speak is Saxon and 
Celtic, Greek and Roman, French and German, 
Spanish and Italian, and what else the lively 
imagination may conceive. We have many 
modern phrases with foreign pronunciation, and 
their orthography is quite as reliable an index to 
their sound, as are a politician's professions, 
prior to an election, to his actions when he shall 
get into office. 

We must not reject the "material aid" foreign 



What is Phonotypy? 11 

tongues contribute to our own: its strength is 
increased — its copiousness is enhanced — its mel- 
ody is extended and sweetened; but let us receive 
the rich gifts which are conferred upon us in 
such a manner that they will bless, rather than 
embarrass and perplex us. Fusion is popular 
in politics. While we compromise to combine 
political elements that they may be rendered 
available, why should we not so fuse language 
that, written, it will be a rational representative 
— a sensible symbol — a reliable record. 

The propriety of Phonetic representation is 
not a modern idea. In the century that prece- 
ded the progressive one in which our eventful 
lot is cast, learned and influential men exposed 
the inconsistencies of the common orthography, 
on Phonetic principles. 

Dr. Franklin says in one of his letters to a 
friend: — "You need not be at all concerned 
about your bad spelling; for in my opinion, what 
is called bad spelling, is generally the best, as 
generally conforming to the sound of the letters. 
To give you an instance: — A gentleman received 
a letter in which were these words, 'Not finding 
Brown at hom, I delivered your messeg to his 
3//.' This gentleman called his wife to help him 
read it; between them they picked out all but 
the yf which they could not understand. The 
lady proposed calling her chambermaid, 'because 
Betty,' says she, 'has the best knack of reading 
bad spelling of any one I know.' Betty came, 
and was surprised that neither of them could 
tell what yf was. 'Why,' says she, Q y-f spells 
wife — what else can it spell?' And, indeed, it is 
much better, as well as a shorter method than 
doubleyou-i-f-e y which, in reality, spells double- 
you I fee" 



12 What is Phonotypy? 

That Betty, following the plain dictates of 
natural reason, of common logic, was a Reformer. 
Her master and mistress were conservative, and 
represent very happily a class of persons who 
now strive against, or will not encourage, Pho- 
netic Spelling, because it is an innovation. — 
Their arguments — shallow pleas for the "let-it- 
alone-policy" which opposes all progress — mere 
excuses for inattention and indolence, remind 
me of the philosophy of a servant girl, who, on 
being ordered by her mistress, to wipe the dust 
from the choice furniture of a parlor, into which 
broad sunlight had not for many days been per- 
mitted to penetrate, replied: — 

"La ! mistress, keep the shutters closed and 
it's well enough. It's the naughty sun that 
comes in and shows the dust !" 

To the unthinking it may appear a vandal 
spirit which would change the typography of all 
the books in the world. The worthy ones would 
bear the change — the repose of others in anti- 
quarian libraries, as representatives of the "old 
time gone," the world could bear. But, says 
the literary objector, with reverential awe, would 
you disguise, to the men and women of to-day, 
the language Shakspeare and Milton, Bacon and 
Chalmers, Goldsmith and Scott wrote — in which 
the works of Bryant and Irving, of Cooper and 
Edwards are printed? Not a whit, my dear sir. 
The history of printing is not without internal 
evidence of change.^ 

*The following is a specimen of the Lord's Prayer in the 
style in use six hundred years ago: — 

"Fader ure in heune, haleweide beothe thi ueuae, curnen 
thi kuneriche the wille bootee idon in heune and in erthe, — 
Ure euerych drave breid gi fous tb ilk darve. And vorzif ure 
dettes, as vi vorziven ure dettoures. And lede us nought into 
temptation, bot delyver ous from uvel. Amen. 



"What is Phonotypy ? 13 

The men and women of to-day can read 
Shakspeare's works Phonetically printed more 
readily than they can read the bid style in which 
King James' translation of the Bible was first 
published, or in which Chaucer's Poems were 
first given to the world. In ancient editions of 
the New Testament, we find a sentence in which 
the Apostle Paul declares himself to be the 
"rascal of the Lord Jesus Christ." In the edi- 
tions of the present time we learn that he was 
the "servant of the Lord." Whoever wishes to 
become acquainted with the curiosities of litera- 
ture, can find, in its history, many departures 
from the first acceptation of words, quite as 
striking as the change that has taken place 
between rascal and servant. 

The gentleman inclined to literature, who 
opposes Phonotypy because he has convinced 
himself that it would destroy the history of 
the derivation of words, (which to the scholar 
is partially preserved in the present orthog- 
raphy) to be consistent, should insist upon 
the restoration of obsolete phrases, and up- 
on the restoration of the original mean- 
ings of words. He forgets that practical re- 
sults — that time-saving processes — that knowl- 
edge-extending systems are of more conse- 
quence than scholarly fancies, or classical allu- 
sions. Though the friends of progress regret 
the loss of such a man's polished conversation 
and learned counsel, they must go forward with- 
out him, as went forward the far-seeing Engi- 
neers who have opened Canals and Railways 
through broad mountains, in spite of the warn- 
ings of a learned Priest, named Acosta, who in 
1588 gave it as his opinion that human power 
should not cut through the mountains and 



14 What is Phonotypy? 

iron rocks which can stand the fury of the ra- 
ging seas, declaring that it would appear to him 
very just that we should fear the vengeance of 
Heaven for attempting to improve that which 
the Creator in His Almighty will and providence 
had ordained from the beginning of the world. 

Let the practical man consider that Shakspeare 
was quite well satisfied with the post-chaise in 
which he could journey, upon extraordinary oc- 
casions at the rate of ten miles an hour — that 
Rev. Jonathan Edwards when he traveled in 
New England supposed himself making very 
swift progress, if between two Sabbaths he 
could reach a parish three hundred miles dis- 
tant from his own. 

Dramatists need not now be the faded deni- 
zens of a crowded city. They may construct 
the scenes which shall bring them fame and 
money, in quiet homes remote from business, 
dust, and din; and upon the Railways, they 
may glide in an hour more miles than Shaks- 
peare could travel between sunrise and sun- 
set. 

Preachers may now bless their children at 
tea on Saturday evening — hold family service 
at bedtime in a household a hundred miles dis- 
tant, and on Sunday morning preach to a con- 
gregation thus remote from their own; but the 
preacher of 1857 can no more swiftly prepare 
the MSS. for his sermons than could Chal- 
mers or Edwards. The author of 1857 is just as 
many days, weeks, or months, recording the 
thoughts which animate a Poem, or which shall 
be spoken by the actors in a Drama, as was 
Milton or Shakspeare. 

Not that, even with the old system, books 
enough are not printed now-a-days, but that 



What is Phonotypy ? 15 

much of the time occupied in making good 
books (and of them we can never have too 
many) might be economized. Men need not 
spend less time or less labor thinking — but 
when they have great thoughts they may sooner 
put them where others can enjoy them, and con- 
sequently secure enlarged opportunity for think- 
ing. The real authors could do so much, that 
authorlings might stand so poor a chance they 
would be glad to earn their bread with hand- 
work, instead of starving on head-work. 

In 1817, the intervals of communication 
between Cincinnati and New Orleans were meas- 
ured by the half-year — from Cincinnati to Louis- 
ville, by the fortnight — from Louisville to Pitts- 
burg, by the fortnight four times doubled. Now 
the business man may breakfast in Cincinnati, 
dine in Louisville, and return to Cincinnati for 
supper — he may breakfast in Louisville and 
sup in Pittsburg, yet the Steamboat or Railroad 
Agent of 1857 has just the same labor — con- 
sumes just the same time in keeping a record 
of any merchandise he transports, as did the 
keel-boat captain of 1817. 

Take a livelier illustration: The telegraphic 
operator who hears the surf beat on Nova Sco- 
tia's coast, may hear also the click which is an- 
swered on the instant in a thousand towns and 
cities, north, south, east, and west in our broad 
union ; but the news-gatherer, at whose wish 
the telegraph is employed, can no sooner pre- 
pare his despatch than could the commander of 
valiant forces, in the stormy times of the War 
for Independence, who was only able to report 
his movements to the head-quarters by the em- 
ployment of messengers who journeyed night 
and day, for weeks in peril and alarm. 



16 What is Phonotypy? 

Think of it ! 

Mechanism, fulfilling well-directed thought, 
enlarges manufactures, augments their potency, 
magnifies their usefulness — the implements of 
husbandry are so improved that manual labor 
is tenfold reduced, or rendered tenfold more 
effective — the facilities of travel are amazingly 
multiplied — the opportunities of all manner of 
intellectual culture and enjoyment are incalcu- 
lably enlarged; — each step in the march of 
improvement demands record, and all furnish 
materials for instruction and for history — all 
are labor-saving, time - condensing; — yet the 
process of recording thought is no swifter than 
it was a hundred years ago — no less manual 
labor is required for him who would write a 
hundred words than when in none of the pla- 
ces of trade or manufacture — in none of the 
avenues of travel or inter-communication, the 
business of a month was so great as what is 
now-a-days despatched in an hour. 

In view of such marked and striking con- 
trasts, can the sternest conservative refuse to 
confess that man a great benefactor, who should 
so direct his ingenuity, that for the hand, which 
is the servant of the mind, he provides a system 
of characters — of symbols — that may be execu- 
ted with a rapidity corresponding to the time- 
saving capacity of machine-looms and machine- 
lathes — of machine-made engines and machine- 
made presses. 

For Isaac Pitman of Bath, England, the 
great claim of such an achievement is justly 
set up. 

In 1837, after a course of experiments, institu- 
ted for the purpose of constructing a system of 
shorthand writing that could be rendered useful 



What is Phonography? 17 

as a branch of common school education, he in- 
vented Phonography. The Phonotypy I have 
been advocating was the outgrowth of that in- 
vention. Phonography and Phonotypy are the 
elements of a Spelling Reform. What Phono- 
typy is, I have denned. Now, let me answer — 

W hat is Phonography ? 

It is a philosophical method of writing the 
English language — with an alphabet composed 
of simple mathematical signs — the right line, seg- 
ments of a circle, and dots. These signs accu- 
rately represent elementary sounds, and when 
accurately combined must symbol the sound — 
must unmistakably indicate the pronunciation 
of words. 

The proper use of these signs may be acquired 
by an adult without the aid of a teacher, and 
juveniles learn it in one-fifth the time required 
to gain a practical knowledge of common long- 
hand. Then he who has mastered the art of 
Phonographic writing, may record his thoughts 
or the thoughts of others six times as fast as the 
person who writes the ordinary system, and in 
one-tenth the space ; and being simpler in form, 
and more correct in principle, Phonography is 
more legible than any other system of hand- 
writing. 

Every person of education has profound res- 
pect for Lindley Murray. Well, " A perfect 
Alphabet, " says Lindley Murray in his Gram- 
mar, " would contain a number of letters pre- 
cisely equal to the number of simple articulate 
sounds belonging to the language. Every sim- 
ple sound would have its distinct character, and 
that character be the representative of no other 
sound." A perfect Alphabet for the English 



18 What is Phonography ? 

language, conformed to the terms of this excel- 
lent definition, would, therefore, according to 
the analysis of elementary sounds, be such an 
alphabet as phonographers employ. Each dis- 
tinct sound of the organs of speech is represen- 
ted by a single motion of the hand. By practice 
the hand may be taught to move as rapidly as 
the vocal organs, and then it can record words 
as fast as they are spoken. 

The average rate of public speaking is about 
one hundred and twenty words per minute. 
There are phonographers who can write from 
one hundred and eighty to two hundred and 
fifty words per minute. Phonography is the 
only system of writing by which verbatim re- 
ports of lectures, speeches, and addresses may 
be reliably taken. But for reporting purposes, 
Phonography is not alone available. In all 
branches of business it may be employed as a 
labor-saving instrument. 

Probably there is not a mail traversing our 
own country or Great Britain, which does not 
convey phonographic letters of business or 
friendship. Secretaries use it to take down 
words dictated by their superiors for letters of 
importance. Students employ it to record words 
of instruction which fall from the lips of their 
preceptors. Lawyers prepare speeches and doc- 
uments for reference, in it. Editors write it for 
their paper, and compositors set up type from it, 
and ministers preach, and lecturers discourse, 
from phonographic manuscripts. Business men 
find it of profitable advantage in recording the 
transactions of their establishments — for pre- 
serving a history of their affairs. 

Now, if Phonography be variously advanta- 
geous to individuals — if it be labor-saving, time- 



What is Phonography? 19 

saving, paper-economizing — if it be easily ac- 
quired, legible wben written, and an index to 
pronunciation, why may it not be adopted as 
the general instrument of record in literature, 
in science, and in business? What is the argu- 
ment against its universal employment as a 
"writing medium?" 

Everybody would have to learn something 
new — old systems must be thrown away. For 
that, everybody is not prepared, and many un- 
willing that others should reap advantage from 
what they have not the disposition, or the op- 
portunity to acquire — perhaps, to investigate — 
oppose the investigation precisely in the spirit 
which animated Governor Berkely of Virginia, 
when he thanked God that there were no free 
schools or printing offices in that colony, and 
hoped there would not be for a hundred years, 
because, learning had brought heresy, and diso- 
bedience, and sects into the world, and printing 
had divulged them. 

The venerable Governor manifested precisely 
the spirit which animates a class of people in 
interior Africa, who, when the missionaries go 
among them, form processions, and marching 
before the Gospel-bearers cry, "Lion, oh! Lion 
of the Book-men, devour them." 

How the world loses to-day, and how the 
world has always lost, in highest rank and im • 
portance from what may be characterized as a 
narrow and false conception of the greatest good 
to the greatest number — a blind and dogged 
servility among men to what each considers Ms 
bread-and-butter policy. 

Along the highways of human progression 
are many costly monuments, on which we may 
read plain inscriptions that are at the same time 



20 What is Phonography? 

lessons and warnings. — " Ignorance," "intoler- 
ance," "prejudice," "selfishness," are the words 
most conspicuously engraven on their towering 
shafts. To those who know history, and are 
willing that its instructions should animate their 
actions, in the present, for the future, these 
words are luminously significant — and that sig- 
nificance embodies the creed of the true reform- 
er, the good citizen; which is — be grateful to 
the Past — forget not the good deeds of the He- 
roes of the material and spiritual progress which 
blessed mankind before your day and genera- 
tion — respect the Present — but, remember, that 
if you are blindly servile, either to what has 
been or what is, you chain the Present to the 
Past, and provide that the Future shall have no 
cause to be grateful for anything that you may 
accomplish. 

If men and women will not secure for each 
other the advantages of a process of penning 
words, as swift, comparatively, for the writer as 
Railway for the traveler, why shall any one 
deny to children the privilege of such an acqui- 
sition? I say plumply that there can be no ten- 
able objection to the introduction of Phonog- 
raphy as a branch of common school education. 
Its general principles are easily mastered. 
While acquiring the rudiments of the knowl- 
edge now imparted in the "People's Colleges," 
children may become skilful phonographers. 
Think you that when they have command of an 
art pleasant and swift, they will neglect it for 
one requiring long-suffering and meekness to 
understand, and tedious, tiresome effort as well 
as provoking tribulation to employ ? " Young 
America" is intent on "fast" enterprises. 
Young America has not patience to wait the 



What is Phonography? 21 

prescribed period for graduation from boyhood 
to manhood, and if "Young America" is taught 
to write six times as "fast" as "old America," it 
will no sooner follow the caligraphic fashions 
of its ancestors than it will give up the rail car 
for the canal boat or "slow coach" — than it 
would let the Hoe press stand idle, from which 
steam strikes 20,000 sheets an hour, and take 
off its coat and roll up its sleeves for work at 
the old Rammage on which 200 were printed. 

What would men or boys think of the busi- 
ness capacity of that merchant who because his 
father could only reach New-York from Cincin- 
nati in 26 days, should refuse to avail himself 
of the railway on which he can ride the distance 
in 26 hours, Men fatigue their bodies — chafe 
their spirits — fret their tempers — harass their 
wits — cheat their neighbors and damage their 
reputations that they may hoard up a few dol- 
lars, or secure the deed to a few acres of land, 
from which they expect no personal advantage- — 
but which they design for their children; why 
then may not men and women make some small 
sacrifice, not of money, not of time, but of opin- 
ion, or of prejudice — why may they not exer- 
cise a little liberality, that the generation which 
shall succeed theirs may have its opportunities 
for keeping accounts, for writing books, for cor- 
respondence, brought forward in a degree corres- 
ponding to the (I may almost say) all-powerful, 
everywhere present development for the econo- 
my of time and labor — -a development, with 
every year reaching farther, extending higher? 

For the sake of narrow prejudice or selfish 
motives among average dull men, or among im- 
mobiles, in high or low places, individual or 
corporate, shall the art which furnishes records 



■■■I mi » »» i 



22 What is Phonography? 

for the "Art preservative of all arts" be alone 
manacled with the precedents of the past, and 
left for the twentieth century as the nineteenth 
found it? Boldly and confidently, the friends 
of the Spelling Reform answer that it shall not. 
They are certain that in principle " they are 
right," and they will u go ahead. 1 '' Enough has 
been accomplished to teach them that neither 
sneering editors, selfish printers, trembling 
school-trustees, time-serving Superintendents, 
narrow spirited Boards of Education, learned 
professors, intolerant writers, nor captious 
preachers, though they may temporarily retard 
its local furtherance, can prevent the ultimate 
triumph of the Phonetic principle for the repre- 
sentation of the English language.' 

Economy of time is the lever of Spelling Re- 
formers — common sense is its fulcrum, and out 
of the pathway of material and intellectual 
progress they must surely lift one of the weigh- 
tiest remaining impediments to human advance- 
ment — to social elevation — a great rock over 
which all now stumble who would learn what 
has been or what is — who would record their 
own thoughts, or know the record of another's 
thought: — in short, who would be better than 
drones or higher than slaves. 

I am neither speculative nor fanatical when 
1 say that the success of the Spelling Reform is 
a question only of time. I speak the words of 
truth and soberness when I argue that Phonog- 
raphy has material advantages corresponding in 
a large degree to the far-reaching influence of 
the steam engine on trade and commerce, and 
therefore it is not visionary to claim that with 
time and money-saving strides it will, sooner or 
later, march over all opposition, into a thousand 






What is Phonography? 23 

avenues of business, from which it is now ex- 
cluded by ignorance, indolence, and intolerance. 

Whether the present confused and unsatisfac- 
tory system of representing our language shall 
continue to embarrass instruction, obstruct the 
diffusion of knowledge, and retard business 
twenty-five or fifty years, depends mainly upon 
the school teachers * and upon the* mothers of 
America. 

I need not enlarge upon the proposition that 
the basis of American prosperity, however con- 
sidered, wherever extending, wherever operat- 
ing, is Education. The man who does not rec- 
ognize this fundamental fact has neither a soul 
for enterprize, nor a heart for national pride. 

But education is not merely school instruc- 
tion — it is not alone cramming of ancient lore 
— stuffing of venerable history — study of science 
and philosophy. It begins before the period at 
which the school law allows children to test the 
Job-like virtue of teachers in school rooms. 

The teacher has a high and noble calling, 
with, indeed, proud and weighty responsibility. 
That American teachers know this responsibil- 
ity is evidenced not alone in the intelligence of 
pupils, who remember them with gratitude, but 
also in the fact that a large number of the most 
influential political teachers in our state and 
national councils were in early life humble in- 
structors in district schools. 

Outside of and beyond spelling books, geog- 
raphies, and grammars, the schoolmaster exerts 
an influence, which has often recognition 
throughout the successes and reverses of a life- 
time; — but, whether this influence shall have 
profitable sway — whether as a mentor in morals 
and in business, it shall lead men and women 






24 



What is Phonography? 



aright, depends mainly upon home education — 
home direction : therefore, appealing to the 
schoolmaster to act well and liberally his part, 
is it entirely legitimate, peculiarly appropriate, 
that the advocate of the Spelling Reform should 
appeal to mothers, with a desire that they take 
such an interest in the movement, as will con- 
vince them that a Reform in the construction 
and in the record of our language is needed — 
and that the Phonetic principle will answer that 
need. After candid consideration they will not 
fail to request the school teacher to instruct 
their children in what must save him waste of 
energy and patience, facilitate the pupil's ac- 
quisition four-fold, and render what he learns 
available for practical purposes — over the pro- 
cesses of his fathers in a degree corresponding 
to the economy of time and labor mechanical 
ingenuity has already secured in the manage- 
ment and control of steam 



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